Queens Morning Roundup

Friday: Partly sunny, with a high near 76. East wind 6 to 8 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon. Friday night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 66. Southeast wind 5 to 7 mph.

EVENT of the DAY: Viva La Comida!

This first-ever 82nd Street Partnership event will shine a spotlight on the fun, food and entertainment options in Elmhurst/Jackson Heights. Food trucks will be everywhere, and the event will include the 82nd Street dance troupe from the Mestizo Art Center, performances by the NY Jazz Academy, the International String Duo and a pop-up crafts market in the Jackson Heights Cinema. Click here for more info or to submit an event of your own

Budget cuts ax program linking seniors and students

The bond between a group of local seniors and children has been broken after an intergenerational arts program that united the two received the ax this year. The Selfhelp Benjamin Rosenthal Senior Center in Flushing has been a 20-year participant in a free program under Elders Share the Arts (ESTA), a nonprofit that helps bridge generations by linking nearby elementary school students with local senior centers, according to the center’s director, Jane Qiu. Read more: Queens Courier

DEA agents seize 86 pounds of heroin in Queens apartment

An estimated $20 million worth of heroin was seized from an apartment in Richmond Hill, Queens on Thursday. Drug Enforcement Administration agents uncovered what they say was a heroin distribution center on 122nd Street, confiscating 86 pounds of heroin during the search. DEA officials say it was the second-largest heroin bust in the city in the past seven years. Read more: NY1

Mariah Carey: Working with Nicki Minaj on ‘American Idol’ is ‘gonna be an experience’

Mariah Carey isn’t going out of her way to deny the alleged feud between her and fellow newbie “American Idol” judge Nicki Minaj. “You know what, I think the whole thing is gonna be an experience that unfolds each day,” she told the Hollywood Reporter when asked about working with Minaj. Read more: Daily News

Rikers’ officers, supervisors having ‘rampant’ sex on and off the job, guard’s suit claims

Corrections officers and supervisors are having “rampant” sex with each other both on and off the job at the city’s jails on Rikers Island, a new bombshell lawsuit by one of those randy officers claims. Corrections Officer Tomara Bryan’s discrimination complaint claims that female supervisors verbally and physically abused her, and unfairly disciplined her after learning she was having a consensual affair with a married warden named Emmanuel Bailey. Read more: NY Post

Keith Hernandez to shave mustache prior to final home game

Maybe more than his 1986 World Series ring, his 1979 MVP or his “Seinfeld” appearance, Keith Hernandez was known for his mustache — an upper lip adornment that will soon be no more. The former Mets firstbaseman and current announcer told Newday’s Neil Best that next week his face will be completely clean shaven for the first time in many moons. Read more: Queens Courier

New cab plan curbs hybrids

New York City taxi officials are expected Thursday to approve one of the most sweeping changes in years, ratifying the Nissan-built “Taxi of Tomorrow” as the only acceptable new yellow cab starting in 2013, with the goal of making the fleet almost entirely uniform within three years. But when the Taxi and Limousine Commission makes the Nissan NV-200 mandatory, it will set in motion an unintended change: The shift will drastically reduce the number of hybrid taxis on city streets—now almost half the fleet and what Mayor Michael Bloomberg hailed as a critical improvement in the industry just a few years ago. Read more: WSJ